LA Attractions: Johnie’s Coffee Shop Restaurant

If the restaurant in the photo above looks familiar to you, you have probably seen it in a movie or two or three.

Johnie’s Coffee Shop Restaurant is located on Wilshire Blvd and Fairfax, the western boundary of the Miracle Mile. Though it has been closed for years, it is a Los Angeles Historical Landmark and is used frequently as a filming location.

Johnie’s Coffee Shop Restaurant. Pin it to your LA travel board.

Johnie’s has appeared in the 1988 cult film Miracle Mile. In 1999 it appeared in a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers music video, then in a 2003 music video with Reba McEntire and a music video by Sean Kingston. Major films it has appeared in are Volcano, The Big Legowski, Reservoir Dogs, American History X, Gone in 60 Seconds and Make Hay When Then Sun Shines.

The interior of the cafe and entrance area look strongly like the restaurant used in Cult Fiction, but I can’t find any reference on where that scene was filmed.

The restaurant opened in 1956 as Romeo’s Times Square and became Johnie’s in the 1960s. It is a classic example of a style of architecture from the period known as “Googie.” Another example of the Googie style of architecture is the old Bob’s Big Boy restaurant chain.

Johnie’s was declared a historical landmark by the Los Angeles City Council on November 27, 2013.